Importing Products

When you have several hundred or thousand products, it's handy to be able to import them and not manually enter them in Stoqflow. To do this, we've provided an import function: list all products in Excel according to a fixed template, convert the file to a CSV format, and then import it quickly.

Make sure that all products have a unique code (also known as SKU). This unique code will be used later to identify your products.

To import a product file, you'll create a CSV (comma-separated values) file. You can do this by creating an Excel file and saving it as a CSV file (note: use comma as delimiter) or using the handy online converter.

Stoqflow links the column headers from the import file to the corresponding fields in the application. Therefore, use the correct column headers each time. You can always download a template of the import file with the link next to the import button in the application.

Navigate to 'Products' and click on the import/export icon () at the top of the list.

When importing products, there's a distinction between importing product data and stock.

Importing Product Data

With product data import, you're importing the information about a product that doesn't relate to stock. Think of name, description, price, dimensions, etc. A line in the CSV file corresponds to one product, when the same SKU is used on multiple lines, only the data from the first line for this SKU will be used during the import.

Import Fields

The following data can be imported, with each field indicated between parentheses (correct column header). The mandatory fields are in bold.

  • SKU (sku)
  • Barcode (barcode)
  • Name (name)
  • Description (description)
  • Width of the product (width)
  • Height of the product (height)
  • Length of the product (length)
  • Weight of the product (weight)
  • Quantity per unit (per)
  • Unit (unit)
  • HS-code (hs_code)
  • Expiration date mandatory (checks_expiry_dates)
  • Batch mandatory (checks_batches)
  • Serial number mandatory (checks_serial_numbers)
  • Biological (flags_bio)
  • Foodstuff (flags_foodstuff)
  • Cold chain (flags_cold_chain)
  • Fragile (flags_fragile)
  • Hazardous (flags_hazardous)
  • Country of origin (country_of_origin)
  • Responsible market participant (economic_operator)
  • Register serial numbers (register_serial_numbers)
  • Price (price)
  • Retail price (retail_price)
  • Minimum order quantity (minimum_order)
  • Order multiples (order_multiples)
  • Product type (type)
  • The product has its own stock (has_stock)
  • Consists of basic products (composition_children)
  • Parent of derivative basic product (derivative_parent)
  • Stock type (stock_type)
  • Minimum stock (min_stock)
  • Maximum stock (max_stock)

The fields per and unit will only be imported if both fields are filled in.

Import Settings

You can choose to overwrite existing data. It's therefore important to make the import file as complete as possible. If you don't check this option, only new products will be imported (based on the provided SKU).

!> Note Stoqflow imports only the columns present in the import file. If a description is entered in Stoqflow and the column header description is present in the import file but contains empty values, the description will disappear during the import. If you don't use the column header description, it won't be imported or overwritten.

Importing Stock

When importing stock, one line corresponds to a product item. When a product has multiple product items, the SKU in the CSV file will be used on multiple lines. To import stock for a product, the user must have access to all locations where that product already has stock. By using the warehouse_id field, you can import stock for different warehouses.

Import Fields

  • SKU (sku)
  • Location (location)
  • Identifier of the warehouse associated with the above location (warehouse_id)
  • Batch (batch)
  • Delivery date (delivery_date)
  • Expiration date (expiry_date)
  • Note (note)
  • Fraction (fraction)
  • Stock level (total)

!> Note When importing stock for an existing product, a product item is searched that has the same attributes as a row in the CSV file. If such a similar product item is found, its stock level will be updated. Other product items will be replaced by new product items created during the import. Therefore, if you use only one line in the CSV file while an existing product already has multiple product items, this product will have 1 product item after importing.